Duke Football: Revisiting One of the Best Games in the Georgia Dome
By Chris Brown
We say goodbye to the Georgia Dome by revisiting one of the most exciting games ever played in the historic stadium. The 2013 Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
Today marks the end of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta as the stadium was demolished early this morning. The venue hosted many great games and events. However, one of the best games every played in the arena actually featured the Duke Football program.
The Georgia Dome was built in 1992 and was home to numerous great sporting events in it’s 25 years. The stadium hosted NFL home games for the Atlanta Falcons, the 1996 Summer Olympics, international soccer games, two Super Bowls (1994 and 2000), three Final Fours (2002, 2007, 2013), and two ACC Basketball tournaments in 2001 and 2009, both won by Duke.
One of the top events in the stadium every year since 1993 was the Chick-fil-A (Peach) Bowl. This bowl usually pitted the top two teams in the SEC and ACC not in New Year’s Six bowls. Duke Football had a historic season in 2013. They won a program-record 10 games and making an appearance in the ACC championship. Duke ended up losing badly to Florida State, who went on to win the national title, but initially many wondered if Duke would get a spot in the bowl as ACC runner-ups over Clemson. Duke ended up getting an invite, and the rest is history.
The game was set for New Year’s Eve 2013, with Duke facing off against Texas A&M. The Aggies were the heavy favorite in the final season of Johnny Football, but the Blue Devils dominated early going up 38-17 at the half. However, after halftime Johnny Manziel and the Aggies stormed back to get in the game and went back-and-forth with Duke to win 52-48. It was a crushing loss for Duke, however still had many positives for the program and Coach Cutcliffe still credits the game to helping improve recruiting and helping Duke Football gain national recognition.
Next: Blue Devils Open 2019 Season in Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game
The 2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl was ranked as one of the top college football games of the decade by Sports Illustrated. Duke Football will be making an appearance in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in the near future, scheduled to play national powerhouse Alabama in the 2019 Chick-fil-A Kickoff. Right now though, Duke Football needs to win their season finale at Wake Forest to become bowl-eligible this season.